New food waste recycling mandate for large institutions

Saturday

Feb 15, 2014 at 6:00 AM

Beginning Oct. 1, institutions and businesses that produce more than a ton of food waste each week will have to send them to composting sites, animal feed operations or plants that will convert them into energy under new state regulations.

Christian Schiavone The Patriot Ledger @CSchiavo_Ledger

QUINCY – New state law will require large institutions to recycle food wasteAbout 1,700 colleges, high schools, hospitals, restaurants and other businesses will soon have to think twice about tossing expired food and scraps out with the garbage.

And many of them don’t know it yet.

Under new state regulations that take effect Oct. 1, institutions and businesses that produce more than a ton of food waste each week will have to send it to composting sites, animal-feed operations or plants that will convert it into energy.

The state Department of Environmental Protection posted the new rules along with a list of frequently asked questions on its website last month, but it hasn’t yet notified all the schools and businesses that will have to comply.

Department spokesman Ed Coletta said that will happen soon.

“We’re going to work with them and make sure they have a program that’s up and running that works for them,” he said.

The new regulations – part of the state’s goal to reduce the amount of trash it produces by 30 percent by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050 – target large high schools, colleges, hospitals, nursing homes, restaurants, resorts, convention centers and supermarkets. The rules do not apply to residences or small businesses.

About 25 percent of what gets tossed in the garbage in Massachusetts is food and other organic material.

School officials on the South Shore are already concerned that separating food waste, finding a way to store it and a facility to take it will drive up costs and create logistical headaches.

“This is what the state is good at, creating these mandates that we have to follow, and who knows what it’s going to cost?” Weymouth School Committee Chairman Sean Guilfoyle said. “It’s certainly a good idea, but my concern is that it’s going to end up costing more.”

Coletta said the state predicts complying with the new regulations will actually save money because it typically costs less per ton to send waste to a composting site than to a landfill. Through a state program, 300 supermarkets saved an average of $20,000 annually per store by diverting food waste for recycling, Coletta said.

But there are other issues like buying new equipment to store the waste and rearranging contracts with trash haulers or finding new ones, not to mention actually getting kids to separate food scraps from any packaging or other trash.

“Dealing with students and what they throw away off their plate is much more complicated,” said Joanne Morrissey, food service director for the Quincy schools. “There are lots of logistics to work out.”

Quincy, Weymouth and Braintree have schools large enough that they could fall under the new mandate.

There are about 28 facilities permitted to process food waste scattered around state, according to a list provided by the Department of Environmental Protection. The closest ones to the South Shore are in Needham and Norton. Coletta said the state believes they will have the capacity to handle the increased amount of food waste from the regulations.

Most of those are composting sites. A handful are anaerobic digestion facilities that convert food waste into environmentally friendly energy, which can be used for heat, electricity or converted into fuel buses and trucks.

Some hospitals and companies were aware the new regulations were coming.

Quincy-based supermarket chain Stop & Shop is already in compliance with the new regulations, company spokeswoman Lindsay Hawley said.

Officials at South Shore Hospital in Weymouth and Quincy Medical Center are reviewing their operations to make sure they will comply when the rules go into effect.

“We’re evaluating it and measuring (the amount of food waste) to see how we fit into the regulations,” South Shore Hospital spokeswoman Sarah Darcy said. “We’ll do whatever we need to do to be compliant.”

A spokeswoman for South Shore Plaza in Braintree declined to comment.

Stephen Clark, director of government affairs for the Massachusetts Restaurant Association, which has members on the South Shore, said he’s not concerned about the new regulations because few restaurants produce enough food waste to be covered by the regulations.

“We don’t see it impacting that many restaurants across the industry,” Clark said. “There will be a cost initially to those who are impacted.”

Coletta said the state will be checking to make sure those subject to the regulations comply. Those that do not could face fines of up to $1,000 per offense..

Christian Schiavone may be reached at cschiavone@ledger.com or follow him on Twitter @CSchiavo_Ledger.

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